


Stop the Presses!

by Thette



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, POV Tony Stark, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:19:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thette/pseuds/Thette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Welcome to the twenty-first century, Stevie-pie. Let me guess, we're having a sordid affair and Fox News calls you Captain Unamerican?"</p>
<p>Steve sputtered and coughed. "What's Fox News?" he asked when he had gathered his wits again.</p>
<p>"JARVIS, relevant headlines."</p>
<p>"Of course, sir. Your description of Fox News was most accurate. MSNBC went with the formal 'Billionaire Tony "Iron Man" Stark with Avengers Teammate Steve "Captain America" Rogers Seen at Maria Stark Foundation Gala', but their gossip blog wrote an article titled 'Hot-hot-hottest Superhero Gay Action?' On CNN, you currently come in second after Lindsay Lohan, with the headline 'Tony Stark's New Fling?' The New York Times only mention you and Captain Rogers as a possible explanation to Stark Industries' twenty point stock gain."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop the Presses!

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [American Values](https://archiveofourown.org/works/418371) by [cassandraoftroy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassandraoftroy/pseuds/cassandraoftroy). 



> Warnings: Reference to homophobia, including use of a slur, and reference to homophobic violence
> 
> Written for Steve Tony Appreciation Celebration 2012. Fill for [this anon prompt](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/12672.html?thread=28052864#t28052864): Steve/Tony, the press didn't really misunderstand about them. First Time.
> 
> Tony needs to be at the next very important Gala taking someone with him, so he is able to talk Steve in it, as there's just him free for that night. Next day sees them reading in disbelief the front headlines about the scoop: shocking coming out of the year, Captain America and Iron Man as romantically involved with each other. That, doesn't sound so bad, thinking of it, does it? It seems a pretty great idea, right? Right. So, why didn't they think that earlier? And above all: they have to make up for the lost time, now!
> 
> (First Time, virgin Steve preferred, but not required. Any Universe. <3 )
> 
> Sort of inspired by [American Values](http://archiveofourown.org/works/418371).
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://rosemaryfic.livejournal.com/9537.html) December 1st 2012.

  
"Uh, Tony...?"  
  
Tony, not looking up from the table, held his hand out in the universally understood gesture for "not before coffee" (and he really meant universally; there were probably tentacled creatures at the bottom of liquid nitrogen lakes who would understand that gesture, he should ask Thor about that), which got him the quiet he wanted. While he had mastered the art of the charity gala and the Stark press smile when he was in his teens, it didn't mean he enjoyed them. He'd rather be working on something fun in his shop; hell he'd even spend the night with Pepper's mountain of paperwork if it got him out of going to the gala. Being the famous Tony Stark took a lot out of him these days, and the mornings after were even worse than they used to be when he had been busy drinking himself to death. Magically, a double espresso appeared before him. "I love you," he mumbled, whether to the coffee genie or the coffee itself, he didn't know. Someone snorted behind his back. The cup was half empty already, how did that happen? He rested his hands in his ruffled and dirty hair. A cream cheese bagel and a smoothie appeared at the edge of his field of view, but other than the clinking of tableware, the kitchen was blessedly quiet. Agonizingly slowly, his brain came back online, and he lifted his face to look at his breakfast company.  
  
"Morning, sunshine," Steve said with a grin, sitting across the table with his own bagel and a glass of orange juice as if they had breakfast together every day.   
  
"I'll shove your morning where the sun don't shine," was the best he could come up with. Yeah, his celebrated wit wasn't really around in the mornings. As the caffeine circulated through his bloodstream, and the reasonably healthy breakfast made him feel a bit better, he could start a multisyllabic conversation. "Soooo, Cap, why are you here at this hour?"  
  
"It's nine in the morning, and I came here after my run." Tony frowned. He really should get back to inventing stuff. The future waits for no man. "Uhm... About yesterday..."  
  
"Yeah, I should have been more honest. It's not so much a party as it's somewhere I have to be and be seen."  
  
"No, don't worry, I had fun. Reminded me a bit of my dancing monkey days, but at least I had your snarky comments to get me through it. It's just that I saw the headlines today, and..." He blushed. An honest to God blush. Nowhere in the stories his so called father would never shut up about was the fact that Captain America blushed like a schoolgirl with a crush.  
  
"Welcome to the twenty-first century, Stevie-pie. Let me guess, we're having a sordid affair and Fox News calls you Captain Unamerican?"   
  
Steve sputtered and coughed. "What's Fox News?" he asked when he had gathered his wits again.  
  
"JARVIS, relevant headlines."  
  
"Of course, sir. Your description of Fox News was most accurate. MSNBC went with the formal 'Billionaire Tony "Iron Man" Stark with Avengers Teammate Steve "Captain America" Rogers Seen at Maria Stark Foundation Gala', but their gossip blog wrote an article titled 'Hot-hot-hottest Superhero Gay Action?'" Tony smirked. "On CNN, you currently come in second after Lindsay Lohan, with the headline 'Tony Stark's New Fling?' The New York Times only mention you and Captain Rogers as a possible explanation to Stark Industries' twenty point stock gain."  
  
"Wait, what?" The article in question was projected before them. "Huh, I guess you're good for me, Steve. Didn't expect that. I should have told you before we went to the gala that your reputation would be shot. Comes with the playboy territory."  
  
"But you're not a playboy. I haven't seen you with anyone since you and Pepper broke up." For a good reason, too. If Pepper (lovely, wonderful Pepper) couldn't handle being Iron Man's girlfriend, who could? The risks were just too great, even for his usual one-night stands. Besides, who'd want to see his scars in bed?  
  
"You go on, try telling the press that. I don't recommend that as our PR strategy." Steve had that single wrinkle between his brows that meant he was thinking hard or was really bothered by something. "We should decide how to play this, before Pepper calls and threatens to stab me in the throat with her heels. Just as a heads-up, denying everything in a press conference usually just feeds the sharks."  
  
"Why not tell them the truth?"  
  
"We can try, but it's not likely to work. I'm pretty sure a camera vulture or two spotted you coming here this morning, which is better than you leaving this morning, but they'll get you when you leave the tower, too. Sorry, Steve, but your reputation as the straightest man on the planet is dead."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Haven't you seen the... Oh, yeah. You didn't know about Fox News. The wingnuts have decided you're the greatest thing since Elvis, and that you're single-handedly going to save a generation of boys from becoming gay by your shining example of morality, and a generation of girls from going lesbian just with your strong arms and blinding smile." Steve started pacing the room. "Steve? You do know about the gay rights movement, right? It's not illegal any more, and if you're going to say something homophobic and forties-y now, I'll have to ask you to leave and do your own PR." There was something in the tone of his own voice that sounded hurried and frightened. "Steve, talk to me, please. Steve, buddy..."  
  
"But I'm not," was the whispered answer.  
  
"What?!" was apparently the theme of the day.  
  
There was anguish in Steve's face as he looked at Tony. "Have you even read anything about me pre-Serum? I was a small kid, thin, weak, liked art, had no luck with the dames... Do you think people assumed I was straight? I've been beaten for being a fag so many times, and I could never prove them wrong. Not... not when I loved Bucky like I did."  
  
"Whoa... That's not what I heard about you..."  
  
"Of course not, I'd have been thrown out of the military head first, Serum notwithstanding. I did love Peggy, and Bucky never loved me back the same way, not that I ever told him, so..." his voice trailed off, looking out the window as if he could see into the past.  
  
"Okay, so if we do a press conference, we don't have to, you know, we'll make sure to not feed the homophobes. I'm sure there's a nice way to get out of my field of destruction."  
  
"Tony..." He turned around slowly. "Who are you protecting?"  
  
"One of my best friends, duh." Steve closed in on him, eyes blue and intense like repulsor fire.  
  
"What if I don't care?"  
  
"If that's your decision, then we'll just lie low, let the rumors die out, no biggie, wise choice, the media is crazy, but journalists usually get better when you ignore them..." He was babbling. With an effort, he stopped himself.  
  
Steve was looking away again, closed, like he had been those first months after defrosting. Tony took the chance to settle down bonelessly on the couch in the sunken living room area. The conversation had run away from him, and he didn't know where he could pick it up again. He drummed a nervous rhythm on his arc reactor.  
  
"What if... I started thinking when I saw those pictures?"  
  
"Which pictures?"  
  
"The one where you lean in and whisper something to me." Tony remembered the moment. He'd been a bit tipsy, and wasn't entirely in control of the volume of his voice, so instead of trying and failing _sotto voce_ he had whispered his dirty comment about Christine Everhart and the New York senator she was currently trying to "interview" in Steve's ear. He'd gotten a hushed and shocked laugh back, and a mildly scolding "Tony!" Steve bit his lip. "The one with my arm around your shoulders." That had been a bit of a surprise. Steve had interrupted his conversation with someone he wasn't even listening to, as if he was the one who needed saving at a high society party. "The one where you had just called me 'pretty woman' in front of the red carpet reporter, and I was pinching your arm." Oh, yeah, that joke fell flat when someone didn't get the reference. Note to self: speed up Steve's pop culture education through the eighties.  
  
"What have you been thinking?" he asked, carefully. Cutting down the flirting might be a good idea, but it had been so much fun to poke at Steve, and he didn't exactly have a history of remembering people's boundaries. The other end of the couch sank under the soldier's weight.  
  
"I've been thinking that maybe it takes someone from the outside to see something that should be obvious to the people involved."  
  
"You lost me there, raspberry sherbet." He felt a hand on his shin.  
  
"Tony, can you be serious, just for a minute?"  
  
"I can try," he replied, powerless against the puppy dog eyes.  
  
"I'm happy, with you as my best friend alive. Never doubt that. But if you want, only if you want, we can try... something more..." No, he couldn't be hearing what he thought he was hearing. He visualized a (sin x + cos x) squared curve and its derivative. Yup, his brain was still working. But apparently not, since he hallucinated Captain America coming on to him. He shook his head, trying to get his hearing back in shape. "It's okay, Tony. I just wanted to let you know how I feel, because I've always regretted never telling Bucky. Will you still be my friend?"  
  
Since Steve kept up the conversation, he was forced to conclude there had been no hallucinations. He sniffed his own breath, no alcohol. "Wait... You lost me a bit there. I almost thought you wanted a... relationship... with me." With him. Why? Good question. "Why?"  
  
Steve smiled, a small smile that had never seen a poster or a front page. "Because you make me happy."  
  
"Huh." He thought about their friendship. How they had started out at each other's throats, and how the grudging respect after the fight against the Chitauri had grown into a real friendship over the last year-and-a-bit. How Steve had become the first person he'd call when he needed someone to talk to, since Rhodey was unavailable most of the time. (Rhodey and Steve got along like a house on fire, by the way. After the first mutual salute, and the formal "Captain" and "Colonel", it was as if they had known each other all their lives.) How Steve occasionally came and dragged him out of the workshop, and how they went out just to have fun. Baseball, even though the Dodgers had moved, and Steve refused to let him buy them back to New York. Walks in Central Park. Trying out new ethnic foods. The continuing education in what had happened since the literal, but very personal, Ice Age. "Have we been dating for months?"  
  
"Was it a date if none of us knew?"  
  
"Believe me, the scandal press will dig up pictures and claim is was."  
  
"To hell with the press."  
  
"Why, Captain," he raised his eyebrows, "you do swear."  
  
Steve rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. I was in the military. Now shut up and kiss me."  
  
Now, that was an order Tony didn't mind following. If he was honest with himself, he had had a crush on Steve since they first fought. (No-one had called his emotional life well-adjusted, OK?) He crossed the couch, straddled Steve's hips and held his cheek as he slowly leaned in. Steve's lips were soft and yielding, and one of them must have made a pleased noise. He opened his mouth, and sucked in Steve's bottom lip, and in return, he got a hand at the back of his head, holding him in place, and a very hungry and dirty kiss. Yes, this was explosive. "Bedroom. Now."  
  
Steve laughed, and that released all the nervous tension from them both. "You're just as suave as I've been told," he said, as he took Tony's hand and dragged them both to the bedroom, giggling like maniacs.


End file.
